The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-04-08
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A timely Discourse on the SigniA-
canoe Of the Deluga

| canoe OF eh9 Dolug6.
An upesae Plea to sinsers to Ester the Ark
| ~ safety-Ths Doors Open to All
| 4 BrS.a-Gusss Gospel sad
| safe Haven.
Rev. +. Dewitt Talmags. durin Z his ~
lent Western tour, delivered the following
sermon at Des Moines, Ia, on 1.-THE Signifi-
canoe OF the Deluge," taking for his text:
| Come thou and all thy house into the ark
Genesis, vii, I.
| The eloquent preacher said:
We do not need the Bible to prove the
Deluge. The geologist's hammer an
nounces it. Sea-shells and marine forma-
tions on the top OF some Of the highest
mountains of the earth prove that at some
time the waters washed over the top of
the Alps and Andes. In what way the
catastrophe came, we know not-whether
| by the stroke of comet, or by fashes Of
| lightning changing the air into water, or
| by stroke of the hand OF God, like the
stroke of the az between the horns Of the
| OF, the earth staggered. To meet the
catastrophe, God ordered great ship
built. 1t was to be without PROV, for it
was t. sail to no shore. 1t was
to be without helm, for no human
hand should guideit. 1t was a vast struct-
ure. probably as large as two or three
Cunard steamers. II was tho Great East
ern OF olden time. The ship is done. The
door is open. The lizards crawl in. The
cattle walt in. The grasshoppers hop in.
The birds fly in. The invitation goes forth
to Noah:
Come thou and all thy house into the ark.
Just one human family embark on the
strange voyage, and hear the door slam
shut. A great storm sweeps along the
! hills and bends the cedars until az the
branches snap IN the gale. There
is q moan in the wint like unto
the moan Of . dying world.
The blackness Of the heavens is shattered
ty the flare Of the lghtnings, that look
down into the waters, and throw ghast-
illness on the face of the mountains. How
strange it looksl How suffocating the air
seems The big drops OF rain plash upon
the upturned faces OF those who are
watching the tempest Crash! go the
rocks In CONFUSION. Boom! go the burst
ing heavens. The Inhabitants of the earth,
instead Of fleeing to the house top and
uountain-top, as men have fancied, sit
DOWN in dumb. white horror to die. For
when God grinds mountains to pieces, md
lets the ocean slip its cable. there is no
place for men to fly to. See the ark pitch
and tumble in the surf; while from its
windows the passengers look out upon
the shipwreck Of q race and the carcasses
of dead world. Woe to the mountainsl
Woe to the seal
am no alarmist. When, on the Goth OF
September, after the wind has for three
days been blowing from the northeast,
you prophesy that the equinoctial storm
is coming, you simply state fact not to
be disputed. Neither am l An alarmist
when I say that o storm is coming COM
pared with which Noah's deluge was but
an April shower: and that it is the wisest
and safest for you and for me to get safe
ly housed for eternity. The invitation
that went forth to Noah sounds in our
ears:
Come thou and all thy house into the ark.
Well. how did Noah and his family come
into the arki Did they climb in at the
window, or come down the roof
No, they went through the door.
And just 80, if we get into the ark of
Gods mercy, it will be through Christ
the door. The entrance to the ark
of old must have been a very large
entrance. We know that it was. from the
tact that there were monster animals in
the earlier ages; and, in order to get
them into the ark two and two. accord ng
to the Bible statement. the door must have
been very wide and very high. So the
door into the mercy OF Col ia a large
door. We 60 in, not two By two, but BY
hundreds. and by thousands, and by mill
Ions. Yes, all the nations OF the earth
may 90 in, ten millions abre ist.
The door Of the ancient ark was in the
side. So now it is through the side Of
Christ-the pierced side, the wide-open
$ de, the heart side-that we enter Aha!
the Roman soldier, thrusting his spear
Into the Saviour's side, expected only to
let the blood out, but he open ed the way
to let al the world in. o what broad
gospel to preach! II man is about to
give an entertainment, he issues
one hundred or two hundred in
vi;atious, carefully put up and
directed TO the particular persons whom
he wishes to entertain. But God our Faith
e. makes banquet, and COS out to the
front door Of heaven, and stretches out
his hands over land and sea, and with
voice tina, peuetrates the Hindoo jungle,
and the Greenland ice-castle, AMI BRAZIL
ian groves, and English factory, and
American home. cries out:
Come. for al things are now ready.
1t is q wide door. The old cross has been
tikeu apart, and its two pieces are stood
up for the door-posts, SO Tar apart that all
the world can come in. Kings scatter
treasures on days of great rel ,icing. 50
Christ, our King, comes and scatters the
jewel, Of Heaven.
Rowland Hill sail that he hoped to get
into heaven through the crevices Of the
door. But he WAS n It obliged thus to 60 in.
After haviag preached the gospel in Sur
reg Chapel. going up toward heaven, the
gate-keeper cried:
Lift up your head, ye everlasting gates,
and let this man come in"
The dying thief went in. Richard Bax-
ter and Robert Newton went iu- Europe,
Asia. Africa, North and South America,
may yet go through this wide door with
out crowding. Ho, every one, al condi-
tons all ranks all peoples!
Luther said that this truth was worth
carrying on ones knees from Rome to
Jerusalem; but think it worth carrying
all around the globe, and all around the
heavens, that
God 90 loved the world that he gave his only
besotten son. that whosoever belisveth In him
should not perish, but have everlasting Life.
Whosoever will, let him come through
the large door.
Archimedes wanted . fulcrum on which
to place his lever, and then he said that
he could move the world. Calvary is the
fulcrum, and the cross Of Christ is the
lever; and BY that power all nations shall
yet be lifted -a
Further: It IS door that swings both